The Lausanne-Orthodox consultation, gathered at St. Vlash monastery, Albania, was ‘invaded’ today by one hundred young people. At the invitation of the LOI 50 Orthodox and 50 Evangelical youth gathered to listen to Mr. Austin McCaskill of the Albanian Encouragement Project (ECP) and His Grace Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Church (UK) This was followed by lively…
The second Lausanne-Orthodox Consultation opened tonight with a dinner hosted by His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Albania and Pastor Ali Kurti, President of the Albanian Evangelical Brotherhood (VUSH) and attended by over 50 delegates from 20 countries. His Beatitude spoke of the resurrection of the church in Albania and the challenges of witness in contemporary…
The Indian Orthodox Herald is one of the first media organs to report on the Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative this week. Commenting on the significance of the presence of three senior Orthodox bishops from India the Herald reminds readers that, “The Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative is a movement of Orthodox and Evangelical Christians who wish to respect each other’s…
As the Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative prepares to gather for its consultation in Albania (in two day’s time) we have received news from the Logos Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, where Orthodox and Evangelical Christians are together responding to a crisis. Our contact there writes, “the Logos Centre (www.kiev-logoscenter.org) have opened our doors to those internally displaced people…
All is now set for the 2014 LOI Consultation in Albania. 56 participants have registered from many different countries around the world and we will also be joined by several local observers. If you are unable to join us in Albania this year please do pray for those gathered and seek God’s guidance and blessing…
Thank you to Dr. James Stamoolis for bringing this fascinating item to our attention. Exactly 50 years ago in September 1964 The Churchman (a journal of Anglican theology) published an article by John Pollock entitled simply “In Soviet Central Asia”. In the article John, an Evangelical Anglican, reports on a recent visit to Tashkent and his…
Writing “in solidarity with the various appeals and statements that have been issued by the leaders of our sister Eastern Churches, as well as my some Islamic groups” the Supreme Council of the Evangelical Community in Syria and Lebanon has issued an appeal for urgent advocacy, action and prayer. The council encourages all Christians to…
“We are seeing an extreme religious ideology that knows no limits in its persecution of those who are culturally or religiously different.” says a statement this week from church leaders in the UK. The meeting of leaders from Middle Eastern churches and many others was conveened at Lambeth palace by Anglican Archbishop, Rt. Rev. Justin…
Over 250 church and mission leaders gathered in Berlin, Germany, last week to explore how mission and evangelism can be conducted in a responsible way, showing respect for others’ beliefs and cultures. The meeting built on the work of the 2011 document “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World – Recommendations for Conduct” produced by the…
One of our participants at the 2014 LOI Consultation will be Tekle Belachew from Ethiopia. He has just written a short introduction to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which may be of interest to those joining us in Albania and others. Tekle himself grew up within the culture of the Orthodox community in Ethiopia, has studied in Ethiopia…